[Mardi Gras] Laissez les bons temps rouler!

[broken_brushes]

The island had done it again. Whether it was pure chance or benevolence none of them would ever know, but somehow, someway, the place had seen fit to give them all booze again

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[honestlyrubbish]

What most people didn't know about Hermione was the fact that she liked a bit of revelry now and again. The majority of students at Hogwarts had gotten to see a bit of that at the Yule Ball three years ago, but most discounted it as a fluke when Hermione emerged the following day, hair still a wavy, bushy mess, no hint of rogue on her cheeks, like it was all perhaps some kind of experimentation that would never happen again. In truth, the idea of dressing up for a party pleased Hermione as much as most other girls, carefully going through selections of dresses and trying to find one for the occasion that was just right. Tonight, she'd settled on a relatively simple dress, a dim gold in color that suited the theme, but nothing too ostentatious. Pretty, without standing out. That always seemed to be the best choice

[everyone_takes]

What Kate felt wasn't jealousy, really, just a small surge of disappointment. It only made sense that she'd develop an actual crush on a guy who was completely taken, of course. That was just the way Kate's life worked. It would be stupid to be jealous, though. Hermione was pretty, but it wasn't like she'd even known of Kate before now.

"I know Harry," she said, although she continued to smile. If that was who Hermione was dating, it would only be her own fault for not asking Harry earlier if he was seeing anyone. "Is that who you're dating?" She tried to make the question sound as light as possible.

She was being completely stupid.

[honestlyrubbish]

Immediately, Hermione shook her head, so quickly that a few curls fell free of the braid she had woven them into, her expression molded in a bit of a cringe. It was just habit, really, that she listed Harry's name before Ron's. Harry had been the one Hermione grew closer to first, the one she felt was closer even than a sibling, and her emotions for Ron, while sure and as strong as they could get, had not settled. There was a bit of hesitation there, as much as Hermione hated to even think it. (Other girls might have recognized it as bashfulness, but Hermione was rather inexperienced at it all.)

"Oh, no, he's definitely not," Hermione laughed helplessly, pressing her lips together in embarrassment. "Harry's the one like a brother, and Ron's the one... who I'm seeing, at present." Only after she said it, did she realize that Kate could very easily have had a vested interest in knowing about Harry, and Hermione's eyes widened at the very thought, a more subtle smile playing at her lips.

"So how do you like Harry?"

[everyone_takes]

At that, Kate laughed, both a little relieved and a little embarrassed. She'd always been fairly transparent when she wasn't actively lying, and she was pretty sure Hermione had seen straight through her question, no matter how lightly she'd asked it.

"He's nice," she answered honestly. "He's great. We've, um... hung out a few times and he's great." There was a little part of her that felt awkward saying that to someone who thought of Harry as a brother, but at least Hermione seemed nice. It would have been way worse to meet someone close to Harry and have them snap at her.

[honestlyrubbish]

Although what Kate was saying sounded mostly innocuous to the ears, Hermione was shrewd enough when it came to catching onto the subtleties of inflection. Difficult though it was to sort through her own emotions at times, she liked trying to understand others, thinking it both an exercise and just the proper courtesy to be made. There was someone worth knowing in almost every person that she'd come across on the island, she'd found, a fact which both confused and delighted her at once. She wasn't quite sure what it was. Perhaps it was as simple as the fact that all of them were trapped together on the island.

Perhaps it was something else.

"He's wonderful," Hermione nodded in turn, making a mental note to ask Harry about Kate. "Incredibly bright, impossibly brave, and fortunately for all of us, extremely humble as well. Although, that does have the unfortunate effect of making him rather clueless around girls. In case that needed saying."

[everyone_takes]

"I was going to say, he never would have claimed to be any of those things around me," Kate replied with a grin, thinking back to their conversation about the war and how she'd proclaimed him brave and he'd only insisted it had needed to be done.

"He'd said he had two of his best friends on the island," she continued. "That must be you and Ron?" Having Marshall on the island was enough for Kate, though she would have liked to see her parents. There wasn't a single person her own age from back home that she would have wanted to see here, though. They'd only ruin it for her and she was happy with the way things were.

[honestlyrubbish]

A bit of pride swelled in Hermione's chest, a softer sort than that which she felt upon having the right answer, or being the first to offer suggestions in the classroom. While she knew that her analytical reasoning was better than that of most of her peers, the ability to build deep friendships had never her forte, and whenever she was reminded of the fact that she had somehow not only managed, but managed with the two people she felt the most remarkable in all of the world, it was impossible not to take some joy in the fact. She nodded, her expression sheepish.

"That would probably be us, yes," she replied, brushing her hair back behind an ear. "The three of us, we've been close for quite a few years, now. We've basically grown up together, and the thought of spending much time apart is, at least for me, quite difficult. It makes me very glad that all of us are here and well, though it's also a gift horse that's very difficult not to look in the mouth at times

[everyone_takes]

"Just my brother," she answered, although that was enough. No matter how much she missed her mom and dad, having Marshall with her on the island made the entire thing a hell of a lot easier. "He was here first, actually, for like, a month before I got here. I guess there's nothing 'just' about having your brother on the island, is there?"

Especially when it seemed like so many people didn't have anyone here, like they had to start all over again from scratch. Kate had never had a lot of friends, especially not female friends her age, and the few she did she didn't want them to be on the island. This was her place now, not theirs.

"It's good enough," she said with a grin. "I'd rather have my brother here than any of the people from school."

[honestlyrubbish]

"Oh don't worry, I didn't take it to mean that you were anything less than grateful to have your brother here," she smiled graciously, nodding her head in understanding. "Just a reference to the quantity. And it isn't wrong for any of us to hope for more of our friends and familiar faces to arrive on the island, regardless. I felt a bit bad about missing Ron so intensely the couple of months after I first arrived, because I was really quite miserable and acted it, worse yet, but the fact is that it'd be more worrisome if we never thought about those we've left behind."

She believed every word she said, intensely so, to the point where Hermione had been thinking of her parents every morning when she woke, wondering where they were and how they were doing. Perhaps that made healing more trying of a process, but she was reluctant to have that happen in the first place. Healing over wounds that she eventually wanted to set right.

"I'm glad the island's brought you someone you're close to, though."

[everyone_takes]

Kate's buzz was definitely wearing off, given that the conversation was kind of serious, especially for such a huge party, but she found she didn't mind. Hooking her hair behind her ear, she nodded as she thought about what Hermione said. She missed her parents more than she'd ever admit, even to herself, but she knew if she didn't think about them at all, that would be much worse.

"Yeah, he's pretty good to have around," she said with a grin, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. "I mean, we're completely different. He's all about being smart and together and I'm..." Kate trailed off and gestured at herself with a laugh.

[honestlyrubbish]

There was a touch of self-deprecation in Kate's look that Hermione herself couldn't really agree with, not given what she'd seen of the other young lady so far. She seemed smart enough, with a decent head on her shoulders, and anyone that Harry took an interest in was surely to be at least decently intelligent, as he'd never been the kind to chase after simply solely for their looks. At the same time, though, trying to reassure someone who seemed confident enough either way wasn't something Hermione felt strongly needed to be done.

"You look like you're both smart and together, anyhow," she settled for saying, her gaze even and honest. "But of course there can be different tones to these things."

[pointzerothree]

Eduardo can't say he's especially surprised to see Hermione sitting on the outside of the party with a book, but being already a little more at ease than might typically be the case, he doesn't see any point in just letting her sit there, either. His half-finished beer gets left on the corner of a table - there's plenty more that he can get later, if he chooses to - and once he's stepped outside the party's edges, he waves, lightly calling, "Hermione, hey!" to get her attention, so as not to startle her. Not really thinking, he dances a little as he makes his way over to her, to the distant strains of music coming from the Hub, grinning crookedly when he's reached her. "What are you reading?"

[honestlyrubbish]

By the time Eduardo calls out to Hermione, she's already gone through her second butterbeer, the drink having a tendency to go straight to her head, leaving her giddy (and, although she can't quite admit to it, in no real place to be reading the night away). With sugar coursing through her veins, the sound of the familiar voice tugs a broad smile onto her face, one that flickers briefly as she tries to figure out what that movement is meant to be. A dance? Interpretive? Favoring an injured leg? It's only after a glance at his expression that Hermione figures it's some kind of greeting, probably an American thing, one that she does her best to mimic, getting to her feet and swiveling back and forth before she dissolves into giggles just in time for his arrival

[pointzerothree]

Between the dancing and the hug, Eduardo is practically beaming when Hermione draws back again, the broad, lazy sort of smile that's been so uncustomary of him these days. For him to relax like this isn't really common in the slightest, but then, he thinks, he has no reason not to: only his scant few classes as far as obligations go, no business to be worried about, nothing preventing him from letting to and enjoying himself. It's been so long, he might as well let himself not worry about it.

"I don't think there are any hearts I could be breaking," he points out, wry, a little self-deprecating, but in good humor nonetheless. (It's true. He isn't with anyone and doesn't think he'd mind changing that. For that matter, though, he thinks she's being entirely too kind, this being the sort of thing he used to wear all the time.) "And you look beautiful." Coming from him, the statement is easy, platonic, but no less genuine for it. He's perfectly capable of giving a compliment without making a move.

[honestlyrubbish]

It's impossible for Hermione not to draw a few comparisons at times. Harry and Ron are more the type of personalities who accept everything as given to them, no question or contest so long as it works out in their favor, but Hermione never settles for that alone. She always has to work facts down to the ground, figuring out triggers, relationships. Right now, the fact is that there's a genuinely kind, and more importantly holistically kind, air to Eduardo. One that reminds her of a certain man everyone at Hogwarts thought best embodied the better traits of Hufflepuff House: Cedric Diggory.

With three years' distance, it's a little easier to look back on that all calmly, but to say that Hermione isn't affected would be a lie. It just encourages her to cherish this more, people like Eduardo far too rare in this day and age.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so humble if I were you," Hermione warns him with a quirk of her lips. "There are certainly hearts that you could be breaking; I'm just banking on the fact that you're too good a person for that

[pointzerothree]

"Don't worry, then, if there are hearts to be broken, I have no intention of acting on it," Eduardo assures her, completely serious, though a smile still accompanies the words, wry but not displeased. It takes everything in him not to blush at her comment about being humble, but he manages, just barely, to stave it off, not wanting to make an unnecessarily big deal out of it. Just because he doesn't see it is no reason to harp on it, and he's sure she means it; she hardly strikes him as the type to lie about such things for flattery's sake. "Anyway, I think that's kind of the whole point of the party, isn't it? To indulge. And it suits you, it does."